'Battleship' was a big flop, claims Comcast exec
Published Jun 4 2012, 07:08 BST | By Zeba Blay
Brian Roberts, chairman of NBCUniversal's owners Comcast, has apparently said that Battleship has proven a major loss for the company.Battleship stars Rihanna, Alexander Skarsgard, Taylor Kitsch, and Liam Neeson as Navy SEALS who must defend the earth from an alien invasion. The film cost over $200 million to make, according to Deadline, but has however failed to crack the number one spot in the US box office in spite of its international profits.
"This year we have an unfortunate large miss in Battleship and The Five-Year Engagement," Roberts told investors at a recent conference.
He went on to admit that the loss will result in "a negative quarter impact on NBCUniversal". This forms a high contrast to last year, when the company made large profits from the success of Bridesmaids and Fast Five.
Some have drawn connections between Battleship and Disney's John Carter, another major flop this year.
Kitsch, who starred in both Battleship and John Carter, was allegedly up for a role in the upcoming Catching Fire as Finnick Odair. However, subsequent reports have claimed that he is no longer in the running for the part.
Watch a trailer for Battleship below:
wasnt looking forward to this film, but it was AMAZING
June 4th 2012 at 8:06pm
I really enjoyed this one, I'll be buying the blu ray. Too bad it wasn't successful.
June 4th 2012 at 3:58pm
You sunk my Battleship
June 4th 2012 at 12:32pm(+2 likes)
The film cost just over 200 million, the film made worldwide 290Million, so how the hell is this film a flop.
The thing is Hollywood, only looks at the opening weekend to say if the film is a flop or not, So the film did not make it money back on the first weekend. So what as long as it makes it money back, its a success.
Yes it was not as popular in the U.S at it was in the rest of the world, it made no 1 in the box office in many countries, These people need to look again how they gauge these things..
June 4th 2012 at 10:28am
The film had a production budget of 210 million.... it also had marketing costs of 100 million. = 310 million.
The film made most of its money from foreign box office which the studio only gets around 65% of as the cinema chains etc and worldwide distributors have to be paid. So yes, it is actually a huge flop.
June 4th 2012 at 12:20pm(+3 likes)
It might make a little profit on DVD sales, but not enough to not count this as a major disappointment for the studio.
To be fair, the film looks like complete ****.
June 4th 2012 at 2:33pm
$200,000,000!!!!! to make?
Iron Sky cost $9,000,000 and still has great fx.
i swear hollywood overcharge for everything hense the ridiculous costings.
June 4th 2012 at 10:10am